Dreamer
by WOWZAcoolBEANS
Summary: One can think of anything when asleep. As Road Kamelot dreams, she dreams of an alternate reality where she's just a normal teenager attending high school with a kid named Allen Walker. Road/Allen, somewhat A/U.
1. Good Morning

**Title: **Dreamer

**Description:** One can think of anything when asleep. As Road Kamelot dreams, she dreams of an alternate reality where she's just a normal teenager attending high school with a kid named Allen Walker. Road/Allen, somewhat A/U.

**Chapter Title: **Good Morning

**Chapter Description:** After getting a wake-up call from her foster father, Road gets ready for her fist day of school after some tears from Cyril and some not-so-great advice from uncle Tyki.

**A/N: **Someday, I will discontinue making my incredibly odd brain nuggets into stories, but this one was just too fun to write to pass up. It won't be that long; I'm thinking three to five chapters, but I hope that you enjoy it nonetheless. It's been a blast to write.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own -Man, because if I did, Wisely would have come in long ago because he is so very fantastic.

--

If they lived in a different time and different place, then they could have been together.

That was the simple truth. In a different time and a different place, then Road probably still would have fallen for his cute nice-guy antics and he probably would have been quite a bit less revolted by her if she weren't a Noah. But alas, this was their destiny, and there was no way around it. Still, there was the little nagging voice in the back of Road's head that told her that maybe if things were just a little different then Allen Walker could have possibly been hers.

--

"Good morning star shine, the earth says hello!" The light in her room was bright and hurt her eyes. It was too early in the morning for such an obnoxious burst of sunlight. Just a moment ago she had been sleeping, and now her personal hell was coming in the form of bright light and chipper voices. Cyr- her father's wake-up calls were always difficult to stomach, though today seemed to be especially bad, probably due to the fact that Road was somewhat dreading waking up and facing the important day that awaited her.

"Shut up." The words were cruel sounding coming from her tired mouth, but she knew that her new father wouldn't mind. Cyril adored her; that much was certain. It would wound him for just a moment, but no serious harm would be done. Like rubber, nothing seemed to stick to Cyril for long.

Pouting for a moment, Cyril sat down at the edge of Road's new bed. "Now Road, I know that you're a growing young woman and that you have lots of untapped emotions that you feel the need to take out on me, your father, because you have nowhere else to direct them, but you need to learn to hold your temper." For a moment he paused, staring out the window at the beautiful August day. "Your new classmates probably won't appreciate you taking out your aggravation about the move on them."

Sighing, Road was able to at least move herself into a sitting position. On the bedside table next to her the new digital clock that she had gotten at the airport in New York City told her in red numbers that it was half past six. With school starting at eight thirty, she had plenty of time to get ready. The urge to get up and start her day, however, just wasn't there.

They had been in this house for a week, her, her foster father Cyril and her uncle Tyki. When Cyril adopted Road formally the three of them decided to move away from the hustle and bustle of New York City where their family lived, and move to Illinois. Before moving to New York, their cousin Wisely had lived in a suburb close to the city, so they just switched houses, not having to worry about going through any intense house shopping or anything. It had been an easy move; they went by airplane and their things all came to the house a few days later by truck.

Since Cyril was a pretty recognizable politician and lawyer, he was easily hired to a law firm in the city and Tyki got a job working for a publishing company doing some sort of desk work. It was sort of a surprise to them that he could find work at all, considering the fact that he had never really had an education. Cyril and Road guessed that his new boss was female, and that was a big part of why he got the job. Road would go to school at the nearby high school, and the three of them would live happily ever after.

"I'm not angry about the move." Road said yawning. "I'm just angry that I have to wake up so early; couldn't you have picked a school where I wouldn't have to get up until ten or eleven?" Her father laughed and stood up. "But really, what would I have to be angry about? A new school is nothing, and if I could handle New Yorkers than these suburban kids should be nothing."

Walking over to his adopted child, Cyril smiled. "I know there's nothing to worry about, but…" For a moment, emotion overtook him and a few tears dropped from his eyes. "Sometimes I just worry so much about you, my little Road!" Tears flowing more violently from his eyes, he grasped his daughter in his arms and squeezed her until she felt like she couldn't breathe. Thankfully, when she felt the blood draining from her brain and an early death coming, he let go of her. "Get dressed, my darling; Uncle Tyki is making you pancakes for breakfast."

Road's face grew dark and worried. "You're… letting Tyki cook? Are you sure that letting him near the stove is a good idea?"

Cyril laughed, but there was a nervous edge to it. "Don't worry Road, he's learned a lot since the incident." The incident was a time in their New York apartment where Tyki had attempted to make himself a grilled cheese and inevitably the fire department was called up. "He's gone through training with me; he should be fine now." A beat passed, and Cyril laughed nervously.

"Going to check up on him?" Road asked with a grin.

Nodding, Cyril started to back towards the door. "Not that I'm worried or anything, it's just that we just got that new stove last week and I'm not sure that your uncle knows how to use it and…" He could do nothing more than laugh nervously as he exited the room.

Sighing, Road was able to push herself up to a sitting position. The truth was, in all honesty, that there was part of her that was incredibly nervous for the first day of school. Not that she was frightened of meeting the new students or anything; she could care less about what those other kids thought of her. They were all just going to be spoiled suburban kids anyway; it shouldn't matter what they think. And yet, there was a feeling of butterflies in Road's stomach that just wouldn't stop.

Trying to ignore that feeling, she got up and got dressed in her usual affair, a button down top, a skirt, striped tights and a little ribbon around her collar, and did her hair up into the spikes that she was used to. At her old school she had gotten some crap about how she tried to hard on her appearance, but she disagreed. No one would have believed her, but this was how she'd dressed since she was little. Her uncle, an English Earl who had moved to New York at some point and who had been her guardian before Cyril, loved these sorts of clothes and had bought them for her since she was a kid. His fashion sense stuck with her and that's why she dressed how she did.

After doing the finishing touches on her hair, she grabbed her new backpack, black with little white pinstripes on it, and headed downstairs where, surprisingly, the smell of maple syrup greeted her instead of the smell of burning batter.

"Tyki!" She said excitedly, and was greeted with a smile from her uncle. A cigarette in one hand and a spatula in another, he was flipping a pancake over. Next to him on the counter was a small stack of about three or four on a plate. At the table nearby was Cyril, already eating his pancakes eagerly.

Stepping momentarily away from the stove and putting his cigarette in his mouth, Tyki walked over to Road and put a hand on her head. "The stack over there is for you, Road. Eat quick, you don't want to be late for school." His hand came off of her head and he began to walk back to the stove. Road followed him, and grabbed the stack of pancakes from the counter. She took them to the table where warm maple syrup was waiting for her. As she drenched her pancakes in the sticky sweet sauce Tyki began to go on his usual tirade. "You know, Road, you don't have to go to school if you don't want to." Cyril looked up at his brother for a moment, his eyes pointed and narrow.

"Don't start that now, Tyki." There was something like a tiger waiting inside Cyril whenever the topic of Road not going to school was mentioned. Her father was incredibly adamant about her going to a learning institution. "Road is going to go to high school, and that's final."

Sighing, Tyki walked over and dropped another pancake off of his spatula on top of Cyril's plate. It fell with a satisfying thud on top of the mess that was already on the dish. "You know, I never went to high school and I turned out just fine." Tyki turned his attention to Road. "It doesn't take a high school education to work in a coal mine, Road, and that's honest and good work if you want it." Pausing for a moment, Tyki looked reminiscent. "Those were wonderful times in my life."

Fighting back the urge to laugh, Road spoke honestly. "Tyki, I'm going to go to high school, and to college too. I have no urge to be a coal miner." Though Road was unsure of what direction her life would take, she did know that coal mining was not in the picture. "But thank you for the offer."

Finishing off the last of her pancakes, Road went to the laundry room and grabbed her shoes. Returning to the table to put them on, she tried to just focus on breathing steadily. With each passing minute the butterflies in her stomach got worse and worse. There was nothing to be nervous about; no matter what there would be someone who would stand to have her sit with them at lunch, but the tingling sensations just grew worse.

A few minutes later Cyril looked up from his pancakes and newspaper at the clock. His face grew surprised for a moment and he grabbed Road's hand. "Road, we have to go, or you'll be late!" Looking at the clock Road didn't see what Cyril's rush was; they had plenty of time to go, but she was willing to go a bit early. Having never been to the school before, it would take a bit to get used to where her classes were.

So she followed her foster father into his car, a new Honda Civic, it was a good car but he looked like a nerd while he drove it. Climbing in, Road expected Cyril to give her some sort of pep talk, but apparently he really did think that they were incredibly late, and instead of a sweet and fatherly pep talk, Cyril sped over to the school, making a drive that would usually take about twenty minutes and condensing it into ten.

When they got to the school it was eight o'clock on the dot. Apparently Cyril thought that it was eight o'clock was the time when the school day began, he practically pushed Road out the door with a quick "Good luck!" Looking around she saw a few people sitting on the steps of the school. None of them bothered to even look at her.

Slightly grateful that no one was staring, Road got the schedule that had been mailed to her a few days ago out of her back pack and walked into the school, the schedule glued to her nose as she tried to find her first class, geometry accelerated with Mr. Chan.

--

_End of Chapter One_


	2. Geometry

**Chapter Title:** Geometry

**Chapter Description:** Road finds a friend who helps her get to class, meets the meanest girl in school, has a few people make fun of her name and meets the 'pretty, popular one'.

**A/N: **I didn't think that I'd have this done for this weekend, but yay! I was able to write! Yay! Not much to say here, except that I really _don't_ hate Lenalee. I actually do like her a lot. It's just that I don't think that Road would because of, you know, Lenalee liking Allen. So in her dream world, Lenalee would be a lot different than in the real world.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own -Man, because if I did, the Noahs would have real names…

--

The school was bigger than she had expected. During the couple weeks that she had been living in the new house she had meant to go visit the school and try to figure everything out, but time just seemed to run out with everything that she had needed to do before the school year started.

So that was why cluelessly she wandered through the hallways, secretly glad that her father had dropped her off so early. From the outside the school looked so small; she had underestimated the size of it. And, of course, the school's layout was so strange due to the various add-ons throughout the years that the classroom numbering seemed to be somewhat random as well. Sighing, Road went from hallway trying to find room 3002, where her first period class was, but with no luck.

At 8:10, Road got nervous.

At 8:15, Road got worried.

At 8:20, Road began to sweat.

At 8:25, Road gave up all hope.

Slumped next to some random lockers, she stared at the map of the school that she had received, too proud to ask anyone for help with directions, but unable to find the room herself. Feeling as if she were the biggest loser in the world, she wished that she could go back to two weeks ago when they had first moved in and have taken the time to have taken a damn tour of the stupid school.

"I don't recognize you. Are you a freshman?" Road's eyes met with those of a person taller than her with red hair and a great smile on his face. "But then again, I don't get the freshman vibe of fear from you; there's something different."

Slightly irritated at this kid with his smiles and slightly mocking voice, she answered almost snarling. "I'm not a freshman, I'm a sophomore." Adding under her breath, "I'm just a little lost." Looking at the boy she expected the same reaction that she got from most people at her old school when she would be nasty to them, a roll of the eyes and a grunt accompanied by walking away.

Instead, this kid laughed. "Ah, that explains it. This place is like a freaking maze; no one ever knows where to go. Where's your first class?" Without even asking, the boy grabbed Road's schedule out of her hands. "Damn, you got stuck in the 'Magical Disappearing Purple Hallway'. That's some bad luck that you got there; no wonder you couldn't find it." Before Road could even ask what the strange hallway was, the boy continued to talk. "Seems that we've got second period and lunch together, kid. If you need a helping hand, I'd be happy to assist." Holding out his hand, he beamed. "The name is Lavi."

With slight hesitation, Road grabbed Lavi's hand and shook. The strange kindness that Lavi was showing towards her was unnerving. People weren't supposed to be nice to her outside of her family; it just didn't work that way with Road. At her old school if she had been in this situation people would have just walked right by. "Road, Road Kamelot." Lavi's eyes widened just a bit before he began to laugh.

"Man, you have a strange name." He managed to get out before a bell rang. Looking up at the ceiling, his eyes grew wide once again. "That's the five minute bell, if we're both going to get to class on time, we ought to go soon." His hand still on hers from the handshake, he pulled her up onto her feet and began to run, nearly dragging Road along.

People still mingled about the classrooms, not caring about getting anywhere. School had already technically started a month and a half ago, so no one was lost like Road was and most people didn't care about getting to their classes on time. It had been the same at Road's previous school. A certain number of days in, most people just stopped caring.

"Who's that girl running along with Lavi?" She heard some girl whisper cattily to the girl next to her. The other girl laughed and ran a hand through her hair.

"He's too nice for his own good; horrible girls like her just want to abuse that…" Because they were running Road couldn't hear the rest of the girl's sentence, but she got the general idea of it. Her eyes wandered over to Lavi, who was still running carefree through the halls, waving to people occasionally and beaming. This kid was _poplar_. Part of Road's stomach dropped. The last time she had gotten this sort of attention from _that_ kind she had ended up with her head inside a toilet.

While Road was still in thought, Lavi stopped suddenly. Not realizing that he did, Road continued… hitting Lavi squarely in the back with her head. "Ah, sorry!" She said, waiting for his retribution, but instead he put a hand on her head.

"Don't worry about it. This is your class, by the way." He said with a gesture. Looking inside, Road saw that most of the students were already seated. Some had conversations with each other. A few were reading or doing some sort of homework and there was one who just stared off into a window.

"Lavi?" A girl with dark hair said as she approached them. Pretty in the traditional sense, she had long hair in pigtails and wide doe eyes. "What are you doing here? Isn't your class on the other side of the building? You're going to be late."

As soon as the girl spoke, Lavi began to blush. "Hey Lenalee, I'm just helping out this one here." He gestured over to Road, who tried to smile, but was afraid that it turned out more like a grimace. "She's new. Would you mind showing her the ropes this period, Lenalee?"

Smiling, Lenalee nodded. "Sure, Lavi. I'd be happy to."

Nodding once, Lavi began running, turning back for a moment to wave he shouted, "See you next period, Road! See you around, Lenalee!"

Lenalee waved enthusiastically, but Road just lifted her hand for a moment. Though she was happy that Lavi had been so kind to her, now she had to face a classroom full of people who she didn't know. But at least Lavi's friend would help…

"Okay, I'll put up with you because Lavi asked me too, but don't expect any favors from me, emo girl." The girl who was pretty just a moment ago shifted. Her doe eyes became cold and she wrapped her long hair around one of her fingers. "You can sit with me today, but unless I find something useful about your presence, then this is a one day only deal. Now come on." Lenalee grabbed Road's hand and dragged her into the classroom.

At the front of the room was a blonde teacher, gently snoring in his chair with an open book on his desk. He wore a white suit jacket with a blue shirt underneath and was far more attractive than any of the teachers Road had at her old school. As Road looked at the teacher Lenalee had already taken her seat at the back of the classroom next to a gaggle of boys and girls. Road was left awkwardly alone at the front of the classroom.

"Just poke him; he'll wake up pretty quickly." A boy in the front row said laughing. "He'll wake up in a few minutes anyway; the morning announcements always wake him up." The boy had dark hair and looked like he had just come home from a rave. There was a dark line of eyeliner around each of his eyes and he wore a great deal of leather.

A boy who was similarly dressed sat next to him and laughed. "Mr. Chan doesn't want to be here, he's just a wash out!" This one had blonde hair instead of black, but the resemblance to the first was uncanny.

"Right! Those who can not do, teach, and those who cannot teach, teach-"

"What was that you were saying, Devit?" Turning around, Road heard an angry voice. Mr. Chan, red in the face, rose up from his seat. "Those who cannot teach teach…"

Another voice piped up from the classroom. A girl with orange hair wearing purple snickered. "Teach geometry, Mr. Chan!"

Mr. Chan became even more red in the face. "Fou!" He yelled to the still giggling girl. "Do you want to go to the principal's office?" He yelled.

Instead of apologizing and trying to get out of trouble, Fou just gave a confident smile. "Like you'd be man enough to send me there, Mr. Chan."

The teacher continued to look flustered, but said nothing. Instead he sat down at his desk in a huff and started to awkwardly shuffle some papers around. Devit and the blonde kid laughed along with Fou, but Mr. Chan ignored them. Suddenly, he looked up and seemed to notice Road's presence for the first time. "You must be the new kid…" He looked down at a paper for a moment and read something. "Road Kamelot." He looked up at Road for a moment. "That's a strange name."

Noting how irritating it was to be told that twice in one day, Road nodded. "That's me." She said somewhat unenthusiastically, though Mr. Chan didn't seem to exactly notice. Instead he was, yet again, shuffling through random papers.

"Okay, Miss Kamelot." He said absentmindedly. "Go take a seat…" He paused from looking at the papers to look through the room before shrugging. "Somewhere. Anywhere. Just sit down."

Turning around, Road faced a class of staring kids, all probably hoping that she wouldn't sit by them. There were only a few chairs open, two by the two leather-clad people, a few by the windows and one near Lenalee and her friends. From the back of the classroom Lenalee smiled. "Road!" She called as happily as she had when she had been talking to Lavi early. "Come over here, I saved you a seat!"

There was something incredibly sincere looking about her right now, even though Road guessed that it was an act. The group of girls who were with Lenalee seemed less than pleased that Road was being invited over, so rather than asking for misery, Road took the seat behind Devit and that other person.

After a few more people entered the classroom and a minute or two had passed, the announcements came over the P.A. system, but Road tuned them out, instead taking a notebook out of her bag along with her calculator and pencil case. From the room there were murmurs all around. Most people were talking about the weekend, others about the tests that they had that day or the homework that they didn't do. At her old school the conversations had been the same; it was eerie how similar the two places were even with thousands of miles between them.

While Road spaced out a piece of folded paper landed on her desk. Since she hadn't been paying attention, she hadn't seen where the paper had come from. Nevertheless, she opened it to see some spiky handwriting hastily written with bad grammar and spelling.

_ur name is road? stupid._

She put down the note in a huff, irritated that people would continue to say stuff about something that had not been her choice in the first place. It wasn't like she could help her name; it was not chosen for her.

From in front of her Devit turned around. "I'd ride on your road all night long, babe."

"You're so original." Road said as she crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it at Devit's head. "It's not like I never heard that one before."

The blonde one began to laugh and Devit wacked his head. "Shut it Jasdero." The boy turned his attention back to Road. "So… Road… What brings you to our lovely community?"

Road picked at a lose string on her blouse. "My family moved. Naturally I came along with them."

"So you-" Devit was cut off by a voice from the front of the classroom.

"Everyone, get out your notebooks. We're going to take notes today!" Mr. Chan said somewhat without enthusiasm. There was a groan throughout the classroom. A few people yelled about their displeasure and how bad a teacher Mr. Chan was. Through all of the insults hurled at him, Mr. Chan's expression didn't change at all. "Class, obey me or I'll expel you all." A few people quieted down but most of the class just laughed, the orange haired girl, Fou, the hardest of them all.

Suddenly, the door opened, and standing in the doorway was a white-haired boy. "Sorry Mr. Chan!" He said bashfully as he took a step into the room. His hand was on his head and he laughed nervously. "I got held up in the hallway by another teacher."

Sighing, Mr. Chan nodded. "That's fine Walker, but for Pete's sake, please try to come on time _occasionally_."

Walker nodded and smiled. "I'll try Mr. Chan."

"Now take a seat, Walker and stop disrupting class before I write you up for insubordination." The class laughed as Walker looked around for a vacant seat. Lenalee was waving him, gesturing to the chair that she had originally saved for Road, but he overlooked that and sat down in the only empty seat in the classroom… The one next to Road.

Sighing, he looked over at Road. "I tend to be late for class a lot. I ran into one of my friends in the hallway, and of course he needed to stop me for a conversation even though he was late to class too."

Not sure why he was talking to her, Road didn't quite care what he had to say. "Sorry."

"You're new here, right? I haven't seen you before." He said smiling as he held out his hand for her to shake. "I'm Allen Walker."

Vaguely aware that at the front of the classroom Mr. Chan was speaking, Road spoke in a whisper. "Yeah, I'm new." She grabbed his hand. "I'm Road, Road Kamelot."

"That's a pretty name. I've never heard anything like it before." Allen said as he turned his attention to the board.

From in front of her another piece of folded paper was thrown, this time saying.

_pretty, popular boi lyks u. way 2 go, street._

--

_End of Chapter Two_


	3. Pretty Popular Boy

**Chapter Title:** Pretty Popular Boy

**Chapter Description:** For the first time all day, Road finds someone who can make her smile, but it's tough when she finds out that he's friends with the ones that she already dislikes.

**A/N: **Oy vey, sorry ya'll for not updating quickly. I've been doing lots of other writing and this sort of got pushed back on my list of priorities. I'll try to update quicker in the near future though! I'm going to try to have chapter four out by the end of the weekend. Hopefully…

**Disclaimer: **I do not own DGM, because if I did, I wouldn't have to write this disclaimer.

--

An awkward blush crawling up onto her face, Road turned her attention to the blackboard where Mr. Chan was now writing down some words and numbers that Road had learned months ago at her old school. "Now, today we'll be working on sines, cosines and tangents. I'd like you all to split up into partners-" Immediately Road's stomach fell into her bladder. "And complete the packet that _Fou_ will be passing out." An irritated growl came from the front row.

"Why me, idiot?!"

Mr. Chan's face grew red. "Because you do things like calling me an idiot! Now _I_'m the teacher and _I_ have the authority to do whatever _I_ want so _I_ am making _you_ pass out the packets! Now go, my class is waiting!" Mr. Chan gestured to the mostly apathetic class, who had taken their teacher's momentary distraction to continue their conversations from earlier.

Irritated, Fou got up and grabbed the packets from Mr. Chan. Meanwhile, Road stared at her desk feeling desperate. It was her secret hope that none of her teachers would assign any group work until she at least _knew_ some people, or that if they did, they would at least assign the groups in which they would work. There was nothing worse than a lazy teacher who didn't realize the fact that the new kid knew no one and would have to ask the teacher to set her up in a group and the teacher, being ignorant as he was, would put her in a group where she would have to do all of the work and be belittled and-

"Hey, Street, there's an odd number of kids in this class, so we're going to work in a group of three." Turning his head with a smile, Devit grabbed Road's pencil case. "So move your desk, Street."

Before Road even had the chance to grab her pencil case back, it was in Allen's hands. "Maybe you should ask if she even wants to work with you losers before you assume that she does." With a smile, he handed the pencil case back to the astonished Road. "Just ignore them; they're both idiots."

A shadow crept up on them in the form of a dorky looking girl with blocky glasses. "Um, erm, uh, Allen?" Taking a calming breath, Allen turned to the girl and put on his best smile.

"Hello, Lou Fa." There was such a difference in his personality from when he talked to Jasdero and Devit to when he spoke to this girl that it was astounding. Either he was bipolar or a really good actor. But no matter what, Road wasn't sure that he was someone that she wanted to talk to; he seemed far to… perfect to be her friend. "What's up?"

Even though he only said a handful of words, the girl's face turned a bright red. "Well, I thought that since you were having some trouble in this class that maybe you and I… Well, maybe we could be partners so that I could help you?"

Road watched as Allen put a hand behind his head and chuckled with nervousness. "Well, I'm really sorry Lou Fa, but I already promised Road that I'd help her out because she's new and all…" Filled with anger, Road nearly jumped out of her seat and tackled Allen.

A dark shadow passed over Lou Fa's face, and Road saw how sad the girl was. She felt bad, but there was nothing that she could do. In her own selfishness, she'd rather keep Allen and use him as a partner than have to work with the guys who seemed intent on calling her 'Street'.

Trying to force on a smile, Lou Fa looked back up at Allen. "That's fine, I'm glad that you're doing something so nice for her!" Road couldn't help but to note the fact that the girl didn't even bother to introduce herself. "I'll talk to you later, okay?" With a small wave she returned to her group of dorky looking friends who equally gave their consoling looks and dirty glances over at Road.

"I don't even know them and they hate me." Road murmured to herself.

There was a hand on her shoulder, it was Allen's. "Don't worry about it, they'll get over it. Honestly, those guys aren't so bad compared to some others." Fou walked by their desks and slammed a few packets down, throwing dirty gazes at everyone that she passed, Allen just smiled back. "So, should we get to work, partner?"

"You were serious?" There was a quizzical on Road's face, and Allen couldn't help but to think that it looked kind of cute. "You don't have someone better to work with?"

Kicking back at his desk, Allen picked up the packet and flipped through its pages. "Nah, besides, almost everyone else is taken, so if I were to back out on you now, you'd be forced to work with the creeper twins up there." Out of the corner of Road's eye she could see Lenalee standing up and walking towards them. "Besides, I'm not someone who goes back on my word, and I told Lavi that I'd keep an eye out for you." Coming closer, ever so closer, was Lenalee, with a determined sort of look on her face. "He was the one who I ran into in the hall this morning and he told me that there was a cute new girl in our class and I should make sure-"

"Allen, I have a desk back there for you, why aren't you coming?" Though she had an outward appearance of being the sweet angel that her looks suggested, in her eye there was a threatening glare. If Allen didn't do as she said, the punishment would go to… Road? Even though she was speaking to Allen, her words were directed towards the new girl. "We always work together so-"

"Sorry Lena, but I thought that I'd work with Road today, since she's new and all." Road stared at the boy's bravery. It was like he didn't even notice that she was ready to sink her long, perfectly painted nails into his (and her) flesh. "We'll work again some other time, okay?" Smiling as if everything was right in the world, Allen reached up and patted Lenalee on her perfectly parted hair.

Frantically trying to smooth down her hair where Allen had mussed it, Lenalee threw on a fake smile. "Alright Allen." For a moment her inner anger showed through. "I'll see you at lunch, right?" Venom mixed in with her words and Road could feel her pulsating anger from all the way over where she was sitting. It was quite frightening. Not minding at all, Allen nodded and Lenalee went back to the group of girls who could not believe that their ring leader had been let down.

"She's going to kill you and me later, you realize that, right?" It was almost like there was nothing going on in that kid's head, because Allen did nothing but stare at Road like she was crazy. "I think that she was expecting to work with you and wasn't going to take no as an answer."

Confused, Allen looked back over at where Lenalee had gone to sit. Following his gaze, Road saw that the girl was now working on her packet, pressing her pencil a bit too hard into the paper as her friends all talked with the occasional glance over to where Allen and Road were sitting.

He laughed as he picked up his pencil. "Don't worry about that, either. It's not the first time that someone's dumped Lenalee." For a moment he stared at the packet. "Do you know how to do this?" There was a small look of embarrassment on his face. "I don't understand it at all."

It had taken her a lot of private tutoring sessions with the Earl to be able to understand any of what this was, but thankfully, she now was the maser of this sort of thing. "Lucky for you, we already learned this at my old school, so here you add…"

--

Twenty minutes later the packet was done and Allen could only stare at Road in awe as she cracked her fingers. Single handedly she had taught the only person in class who still did not understand what in blazes a tangent was to do math.

It was like her mere existence was a miracle.

"We're done before everyone else." Amazed, he doodled a smiley face on Road's paper. "I've never been done before everyone else in math… And I even helped out a little too!" It was almost cute, the way that he was so excited about this. Suddenly, a look of duty came upon his face. With a fake clear of the throat, he spoke in a deeper and prim tone. "Now, since we have extra time, I will allow you to ask me any questions that you may have about this new school of mine. Anything at all, no boundaries! I give you that right for being the goddess of mathematics."

Unable to control her laughter, Road indulged herself for a moment. "Okay, so why does Fou get away with back talking to Mr. Chan whereas the rest of us get threats of expulsion?'

For a moment Allen looked ahead of him, probably trying to figure out the answer. "I… I don't know that one." Disappointed, Road sighed and looked down at the paper. Frantically, Allen tried to appeal to her. "Ask me anything else and I'm sure that I'll know the answer to that one!"

An evil grin appeared on Road's face, and for a moment Allen thought that he was dealing with the devil. "Anything… Anything at all?" Scared, Allen nodded. "Anything…" The demon's grin faded, much to Allen's relief, as Road tackled a subject that was dearly important to every student's heart. "How's the cafeteria food?"

"It's bad, but there's a lot of it, so it's good enough for me."

"The teachers?"

"They vary. Who do you have?"

Road pulled out her schedule. "First period, Geometry with Mr. Chan. Second is English with Mr. Krory. Third I have… History with Bookman?"

Allen laughed. "Bookman is the greatest, we'll be together in that class."

Trying to ignore the fact that she was now actually looking forward to a class now, she continued to read off her list. "Fourth is ethics with Mr. Cross." A dark shadow passed over Allen's face, but he said nothing. "Fifth is lunch, sixth is art with Mr. Tiedoll, seventh is gym with Ms. Nine and eighth is orchestra with Mr. Marie."

Allen's face lit up. "We have a lot together!" There was a real happiness to his voice. "First, third, fourth, fifth and… eighth." A blush came on his face when he mentioned orchestra class, and Road could understand why. The only thing dorkier than being a band kid was being an 'orch dork'. "Most of your teachers are good… Except Cross. Not Mr. Cross, just Cross." The shadow returned to Allen's face once more.

"What's wrong with him? And what's with the weird title?" Around the two of them the atmosphere. What was once happy was now full of despair.

"Cross is… The worst teacher and person who has ever lived." Road thought that maybe it had started raining, because she was sure that she heard the sound of thunder coming from outside. "Once he caught me eating in his class and-"

Picking the absolute worst moment to awaken from his nap, Mr. Chan got up and called the class to attention. "Everyone! Be quiet and listen to me!" When no one did, he threw a book at the wall. Suddenly every person's attention was focused entirely on him. "Very good. Now, I'm going to spend the rest of today with a lecture. Anyone who interrupts me will be sent, _immediately_, to the principal's office." Everyone was silent, except Fou, who snickered. Mr. Chan didn't pay attention to that girl, however. "Now, open your books to page one hundred forty-seven and…"

Turning her head only slightly to the side, she caught a glimpse of Allen, who was doing the same thing to her. Smiling, she did as Mr. Chan told her to and waited eagerly for her next chance to talk to that 'pretty popular boy'.

--

_End of Chapter Three_


	4. Woobies Unite

**Chapter Title:** Woobies Unite

**Chapter Description:** Road goes through her day, meeting new teachers and people until she gets to Cross's ethics class and things begin to go downhill.

**A/N: **Talking about my lack of updating is now cliché, so I won't. I want to thank all of the wonderful people who have been taking the time to review this; I think that it's the most popular fanfic that I've written, which I would have never expected! So you all have made my day. Which is why I'm sorry that this chapter ends with a cliffhanger…

**Disclaimer: **I do not own DGM, because if I did, chapter 173 would have gone… much differently. EDGAR!

--

The bell rang in the middle of Mr. Chan's blabbering. Hurried, everyone packed up their pencil cases and shoved their books back into their backpacks. In a matter of moments the classroom was clearing out, leaving Road there staring at her schedule. A hand grabbed hers, looking up she saw that it was Allen. "Hey, what are you-"

"Lavi's waiting for you outside the door. Don't want to keep him waiting." Sure enough, Road turned to the door and saw a head of red hair out there waving at the two of them. Allen replied by lifting up a hand. "Allen! Road! Hurry up!" From the front of the room Mr. Chan glared, but Road was too astonished to notice.

When he had successfully dragged Road out of the room, Allen said his goodbyes and ran off to whatever classroom that his next class was in. Honestly, Road was sad to see him go; nonetheless, she followed Lavi to wherever English class was.

"So Road, where do you hail from?" Even though the hallways were crowded and noisy, Road managed to keep up with Lavi and keep up a conversation with him as well. Though she was nervous, she tried her best.

Dodging a freshman with an incredibly large backpack, she replied. "New York City. I lived there with my uncle." A huge senior in a football jersey came over and fist bumped Lavi.

"Dude." He said with a nod.

"Dude." Lavi replied as the guy walked away. His head turned to Road once again. "Are you living with your parents now, then?"

Looking down for a moment, Road was able to avoid a huge wad of pink bubble gum. "No, an adopted father and an uncle-in-law, I guess. No one really knows where my real parents are right now. They've been out of the picture since I was three." Her eyes were unable to make eye contact with Lavi's.

But instead of the usual sympathetic response she got from people when she told them. "So you're a woobie, too?"

In disbelief, Road forgot her embarrassment and was able to look up at him. "A what?" That was a term that she had never, in her life, heard of before.

"Someone who has a background so tragic that you want nothing more than to give them a hug. I'm like that too." A few girls waved to her escort and he winked back at them, causing them to go into a fit of giggles. "My parents aren't around either, and I used to be shuffled from house to house. The first time that I had ever been in the same place for more than a few months was when I moved to this school, and I was incredibly screwed up then."

Unable to believe what she was hearing, Road stared. "By screwed up you mean-"

"I was doing a lot of bad stuff. Drugs, alcohol, you name it. By then I was as cynical as a forty year-old unemployed fat guy." He laughed at his own joke, but Road didn't find it too humorous. "I got here and thought that things would be the same. This time I was staying with a friend of my uncle's brother-in-law, so I didn't really think that it would last. I was wrong; the old geezer decided to keep me around, even though I was so screwed up." A dorky looking kid carrying a huge stack of books walked by and was tripped by someone. Before the stack of books could even fall, Lavi helped keep the books, and the kid, upright. "Sorry about that."

"No problem at all." This kid was really kind, she thought.

"So I got here and I was just as lost as you my first day; I was a freshman and I, too, was stuck in the Magical Disappearing Purple Hallway, though, I didn't really care much about class. But Allen came over and tried to help out and even though I said I didn't need him, he continued, and even got me to go to class." The hallways were getting clearer now; the passing period must have been nearing its end. "And he kept helping me from there. It was him who helped me get clean and was the catalyst for the change in my outlook of the world. It was him who made me happy for the first time, really."

Finally, Lavi stopped in front of a door. It seemed like it had taken forever, but apparently they made it to their English class. "Why would you tell me all that?"

He shrugged. "There's no use being secretive about it. I'd rather you hear the story from me than from someone else. Besides," he smiled. "It looks like Allen really took a shine to you, so if at all possible, I'd like you to take a shine to him. He's a great guy." He held open the door to the classroom and Road stepped through it, blushing.

But then, Lavi didn't follow her in. The door shut behind her and the class was staring. A frightening looking man with black and white hair stood at the front, presumably the teacher. "Who are you?" He asked.

"Road Kamelot." Pausing, she saw not a single familiar face in the room. "I've transferred in today." A look of recognition reached the man's, presumably Mr. Krory, face.

"Ah, Road! Very good. You're here just in time. Take a seat in the back there," He gestured to an empty desk in the very last row. "and I'll grab you a book."

And that was how English went; uneventful, but pleasant. Yet, Road could not seem to focus. Whenever she tried to think, all that came were thoughts of Lavi and Allen and how the latter was quite wonderful.

--

Getting through the hallways after English was not a breeze without a guide, but luckily the walk from Mr. Krory's to Bookman's class was quick. In fact, it would have been much shorter had Road not missed it the first time she walked by it.

But there was something that plagued her mind as she entered the classroom; would Allen be as nice to her here as he was during first period? Or was that just a freak occurrence, brought about by the fact that she was good at what they were studying at the moment. History had never been her strongest subject, so if it was her brains that he liked her for, then she should just get used to the thought of going to school every day and not talking to him. She had only known him for a couple hours, but it seemed like her time would be pretty bleak if he weren't in it.

There was no teacher at the front of the room yet, so Road took a seat by the windows. In the back of the classroom were a few giggling girls who had been sitting with Lenalee during math class, but Road paid them no mind. As kids filed in and took the seats around her, she wondered only when that head of white hair would enter.

That was why it caused her to jump when there was a tap on her shoulder. Looking back she saw Fou, from her math class. "Yo." The girl said, leaning back in her seat.

"Hello."

"I like your socks." Instinctively, Road looked down at the striped socks that were her favorites. Though she had a lot of pairs, these were the first socks that her dad had ever gotten her. It was cheesy, but they were really special to her. "Where did you get them?"

Road shook her head. "No clue, they were a present."

The girl shrugged. "Oh well. I'm Fou, by the way." She reached out her hand, and Road shook it. "We were in Bak's class together, I think."

"Bak?" She knew that they had been in first period together, but she never met anyone named Bak.

Fou turned away, a slight blush creeping up her face. "I mean, Mr. Chan." Road raised and eyebrow and Fou sighed. "I know him outside of school; our families are old friends. I'm just used to calling him Bak, okay?"

Road nodded. "Sure. That's fine."

"Anyways, I'm sure being new is hard, so I thought I'd introduce myself." She grabbed her bag, a bright green messenger bag, and began to take a notebook out of it. In the background the bell rang. "Where are you-"

"Attention everyone, it's now time to start class." At the front of the classroom came a man, about as tall as Road, if not shorter, with the strangest tattoos that she had ever seen circling his eyes. "Today we're supposed to have a new student. Raise your hand if you're Road Kamelot." Red creeping up into her cheeks, Road raised her hand. The teacher gave a curt nod and she lowered her hand. "No that we've all been introduced, I'd like everyone to take out your notebooks. Today we'll be discussing the Battle of Gettysburg and-"

The door opened revealing a pair of giggling boys. It was Jasdero and Devit, late to class. Bookman stopped talking, and let the two of them take their seats without a word. From behind, Fou whispered into Road's ear. "They'll be written up; you never want to be late to this class." Road nodded, and hoped that she'd remember.

"Now the Battle of Gettysburg…" Road took out a notebook of her own and began to take down notes, but she noticed something wrong.

Allen hadn't come to class.

Now, it was possible that he had lied to her like Lavi, and didn't really have this class with her, but there was part of Road that didn't think that he would do it. Maybe he was just late, but she doubted that as well. It didn't surprise her that Allen liked to bend the rules, but he seemed like the sort of guy who would know when to do that and when to not. Bookman didn't seem like the sort to mess with like that.

But he still wasn't there, and by the end of the period he had never arrived.

Walking out of the classroom with Fou, who was heading the same direction that she was, Devit and Jasdero stopped her. With a smile Devit punched her arm playfully. "Hey there Street."

Cold and icy, she gave them the look that could usually get people to leave her alone. "Hello there." Though there was hesitation in Jasdero, Devit didn't seem at all phased by Road's icy gaze.

"We overheard that you have next period with the Prince. You may want to check on him." There was a shit-eating grin on his face that made Road's stomach churn at an alarming rate. "If he wasn't able to come to class, then I'm sure that he's probably not feeling well."

"What are you morons talking about?" Fou asked, taking a step out, almost covering Road. "You're freaking her out."

That much was true. Though she wasn't positive who the 'Prince' was, she had a pretty good idea. It seemed like they had done something to Allen. "Stay out of this Fou; go back to the stove."

Fuming, Fou got up into Devit's face and pinched his cheek. "What did you say, you bastard?" The spot where she was pinching grew red, and Devit swatted her hand away.

"Do you need it spelled out? Go to the kitchen and make. Me. A. Sandwich. Or is that too hard for someone with no womanly qualities like yourself." Despite her worry, Road began to laugh. All three looked at her as if she were crazy. "Yo, Street, what's so funny."

"You're all morons." The three of them talked like Tyki did when he was drunk, and Road thought that it was hilarious. "And I need to go to class."

After a moment, Fou joined in on her laughter as well. "Yeah, we do sound pretty ridiculous right now." She punched Devit in the arm, making him take a step back, but he said nothing. "Let's go."

The two of them walked off smiling, but Road couldn't help but to walk quickly and be distracted in their conversation. A nagging voice in the back of her mind wanted Road to run. If Allen had gotten hurt by those idiots and it was her fault, she would never forgive herself.

After what seemed like a thousand years, they reached the ethics classroom, which was more of a lecture hall than a classroom, and Fou departed to the cafeteria. After waving her new friend goodbye, Road rushed into the room, looking up at the rows of seats searching for that head of white hair.

And to her relief, there it was. When he made eye contact with her, his face lit up and he gestured for her to join him up there. And she would have been happy to go, but something stopped her momentarily.

There was a huge bruise on the side of his face.

--

_End of Chapter Four_


	5. Ethics in the Real World

**Chapter Title:** Ethics in the Real World

**Chapter Description:** The famed ethics class is something that Road fears, but their teacher decides that he just doesn't care about teaching class. She and Allen go on a tour of the school, talking to a crazy teacher and learning about Allen's past and the fact that hand holding does not cause pregnancy.

**A/N: **Have I mentioned how floored I am about the amount of positive feedback I've been getting for this? Well, I'm sorry, but I'll mention it again. Thanks everyone! You're the best. I won't promise to update quicker, like I usually do, because it seems that whenever I promise that, I end up updating even slower. Sigh. Anyways, I'm glad that people are enjoying this, so I bring you chapter five!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own DGM, because if I did, I'd have artistic talent.

...

When the initial shock was gone, Road walked up to where Allen was sitting and smiling happily, air headed in his appearance. Around them people whispered; they all probably knew that he hadn't had that bruise when he had gotten to school that morning. Nonetheless, Allen sat there as if nothing were wrong and he hadn't been in some sort of bad situation very recently.

When finally she climbed the Mount Everest of rows to reach Allen, he smiled broader. "Hey there Road, how has your day been?"

Squeezing through the strangely narrow rows of desks to reach Allen, a few seats inward, she was able to inspect his face even more. It was worse than she had expected; there was discoloration all along the left side of his face, from above his eye to the middle of his cheek. It looked like it hurt.

"What happened to you?" As she sat down, she couldn't drag her eyes away from it. "Are you alright?"

As if he didn't realize what he was talking about, he stared at her for a moment before laughing. "Oh this?" He pointed up to his face. "That's nothing. I just took a tumble down the stairs. I can be a real clutz sometimes, you know. Anyways, how were your past few classes?"

"Fine, really. Nothing much to say." More people filed into the classroom and took their seats. "Those twins, Devit and Jasdero, are really irritating."

Out of the corner of her eye she watched Allen to see if there was any difference in his manner, but there seemed to be no reaction at all. He shrugged. "Everyone has their quirks." The bell rang, but there was no teacher at the front of the classroom. The kids around them kept talking, glad that they had a break from their busy schedules.

Then, without warning, the door slammed and not a person made a noise. Even Allen looked frightened. Road's head turned over to the doorway where a tall man with flaming red hair stood, smoking a cigarette. His eyes looked over the class and he grunted. "Good morning." He said, taking the cigarette out of his mouth.

A few people around the class murmured their greetings to who Road assumed was their teacher.

The man continued to frown, took the cigarette out of his mouth and dumped the ash in some unfortunate kid's hair. "Today's assignment," The teacher said as he walked to the chalkboard in the front of the room. "Is to be ethical in the real world. Starting now. Class dismissed."

People got up out of their seats without batting an eye and filed out of the classroom as quickly as the could. The teacher didn't even bother to take attendance and as the students left he sat down in the chair that sat at the teacher's desk, propped his feet up onto it and promptly fell asleep.

"Allen, what is he-" Road began to ask, but stopped as Allen grabbed her hand and pulled her along with him out of the classroom. Once they were out, Allen let go, and Road's other hand grasped the one that Allen had been holding; his hand had been so warm.

Allen sighed and stretched his arms. "It looks like the period is ours to do with as we please, Road. Do you want me to give you a tour of the school?"

For some reason, at his smile, Road's heart beat just a little faster in her chest. "Um, sure. I'd like that." For a moment he looked down at her hands, as if he was going to grab one of them again, but instead he began to walk at a fast pace. Road caught up to him, and matched his speed. "What was with him?"

"You mean Cross?" He asked, and Road nodded. Allen's face grew dark, as if he were telling some sort of childish horror story around the campfire with his friends. "Half the time it's like that; he just doesn't care. The other half…" His mind was lost in a dark abyss of despair, and he stopped walking in the middle of the hallway. "I've gotten worse bruises than these from that man, both physical and emotional."

It was the first time that Allen seemed to even notice his injuries, but Road didn't know how to get him to admit to what happened. It was bad enough that he had gotten into a tiff with Jasdero and Devit, but if it were her fault, she wouldn't know what to do. "Wouldn't he get fired for that?" Allen's face turned a lovely shade of green and he seemed to stop functioning for a moment. Road waved a hand in front of his face. "It was at school that he did this, right?"

Slowly, Allen shook his head and opened his mouth. Though no words came out at first, he was eventually able to squeak out a response. "It wasn't at school."

"Was he your… sports coach or something?"

Allen shook his head again. "No, he was my-"

"Yo, idiot." A booming voice came from behind him. Road turned to see the man himself, Cross, walking towards them, still smoking despite being on school property where doing that was very much illegal. "What are you doing just standing around here? I gave you an assignment, didn't I?"

"Hello… master." Allen's face grew red and he stole a nervous glance over at Road before continuing. "This is my assignment." He pointed with his thumb over at Road, who suddenly felt like she was being used, or something. If she were just a project to Allen, she would not be pleased. Her eyes narrowed at Allen in a death glare.

Cross, for the first time, looked over at Road. His eyes traveled from her head, down to her feet, and then back up. It was like he was looking at her as some piece of meat; she didn't like it. "Not bad, idiot apprentice, but I don't see how going out on a date is being _ethical_. I doubt you can even afford dinner-"

"This isn't a date, teacher!" Allen assured a bit too quickly, waving his arms wildly in front of him. "This is Road, she's new here, so I'm showing her around the school."

Cross laughed, it was loud and outwardly pleasant, though there was something a bit overbearing and frightening about the noise. "Sure, sure, Allen." He took a step closer and put a hand down on Allen's white hair; the boy did not seem to be too comfortable with the situation, but Cross didn't seem to care much about Allen's comfort. "Just be sure to make sure that your other girlfriends don't find out; it's no sin unless you're caught, of course."

"I thought that you were the _ethics_ teacher." Road said, angry that he was implying that she was a whore, and even angrier that Allen was letting him get away with it. Not that she needed him to help her, or anything; it was just the fact that he seemed to do nothing at all that was irritating. There was a limit to the amount of pacifism that someone could stand. "Saying those things about students is despicable and will probably get you fired sooner rather than later."

Cross's hand dropped from Allen's head and he looked over at Road. With a smile he took a drag of his cigarette. "This one isn't a student, to me. He's my boarder. He does what I say." Road's tough act fell just a bit; no one had told her that Allen didn't live with his parents. "And you're the one flirting with a guy who's got a girlfriend. Not very ethical, if you ask me." Road looked to Allen, but he was staring at the ground. Seeing the dismay on both of his students' faces, he took a step back. "I'm bored, I'll talk to you later, idiot."

Humming a little tune to himself, Cross walked down the hall and was soon out of sight. Road turned to Allen. "I'm sorry Road, I should have told-" He began, but was interrupted.

"What is there to be sorry for?" She began to walk, a bit quicker and a bit more manic than she had been, down the hall. "We've known each other for a couple hours; there's no reason for you to tell me that sort of stuff." She laughed, and it came out as fake as she felt. "Anyways, let's keep going. I think that I have a class over here-"

"I live with Cross. When my foster father died five years ago, I moved in with him. The two of them were close friends. I call him 'master' because he's the sickest, most perverted person who I have ever met and he gets a kick out of that sort of thing."

"Why don't you move out if he's so terrible?" Road asked, hoping that she wasn't going too far with that question.

Allen shrugged. "I have no family and I like it here; he's not a model citizen, but he's as good as anyone else. Besides it was Mana's-my foster father's- idea to have me stay with him. It was one of his last wishes."

"Foster father?" Road asked, a little confused.

Uncomfortable with talking about the past like that, Allen looked down at the ground. "That's a story for another time, I think."

She wasn't going to pry; his personal affairs were his own personal affairs, and it wasn't her place to try to get him to reveal anything that he didn't want. Sure, she would have liked to have known that sort of stuff, but it was none of her business, even if her curiosity was fierce. "No problem, now I think that this classroom here is where-"

"I don't have a girlfriend, by the way," Allen said as he caught up with her. "Just so you know."

There were these stupid little butterflies that were flying around Road's stomach, making her both happy and sad at the same time; it was weird. She had never felt these sorts of things with anyone else. When Allen said that, the little bugs began flying around at what felt like the speed of sound, causing a not pleasant, but not unpleasant, feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Really?" She said with as much confidence as she could muster, leaving it as a sort of strange squeak.

"Yeah. Well, sort of."

"That's quite the explanation there, Allen." Road said, beginning to get irritated with him and whatever he was trying to do. If he wanted her to be his… _other woman_ or something, she would turn her back right now and walk away.

He sighed. "I'm sort of digging myself into a hole here, aren't I?" He paused for some sort of laugh from Road, but none came. His meager attempt at a joke didn't break through Road's irritation. "I really don't have a girlfriend; she just thinks that I'm her boyfriend, if that makes any sense at all." It sort of did, but Road wasn't about to admit that to him. "Anyways, I'll explain it more if you want me to. Will you let me?"

She sighed, more curious than anything. "Sure, go ahead."

"I'm glad that you'll listen to me, Road." He took a breath, and began. "Well, I broke up with Lenalee about four months ago-"

Already interjecting, Road laughed. "Lenalee, seriously?" She would have thought that he would have had better taste than that awful girl.

His face turned red. "She used to not be so terrible."

"So you admit that she is?"

Now Allen seemed to be getting irritated. "Do you want me to explain, or not?" He asked more assertively than he had said anything before that day. Road sighed, but stayed silent. Taking that as his cue, Allen continued. "Well, we did break up four months ago, but then we got back together about a week after that. A week after _that_, though, I broke up with her again." He looked tired; Road knew that _he_ knew how ridiculous all of this sounded. "And it sort of didn't get through to her that I was serious that time." He paused for a moment, and looked up at the ceiling. "So she still tells people that we're 'sort of together' even though we haven't been dating."

"That's really silly." Road said, not just because she thought that Allen could do much better than that witch. "Is she just delusional, or something?"

Allen shrugged. "She's not as bad as you think."

"You keep saying that."

"It's true." Allen reached over and grabbed Road's hand. Not expecting that, Road looked over at Allen, whose eyes were very focused on what was ahead of him. "We grew up together, she and I. When my foster dad died, she really helped me get through it. I owe her more than to talk crap about her behind her back like this." He squeezed Road's hand a little tighter. "It's just been in the past year that she's changed so much; I think it was because our relationship changed a lot, to be honest." His hand felt good in hers; she didn't want him to let go.

"Growing up is tough." Road agreed, thinking of her own childhood. "A few years ago I would have thought that doing this would lead to me getting pregnant."

There was a lull in the conversation for a moment, and Allen looked at her, stared, and burst out laughing. "What an utterly inappropriate comment." He chastised, but with a smile. "It was sort of wonderful, though."

Road shrugged, secretly happy that she had gotten his approval. "I don't like things to get too deep; I've had enough of that to go around."

"Lavi told me about your parents." Allen said, looking down at the floor again, probably expecting her to be angry at him for knowing her secrets and refusing to share his. She wasn't. Road noticed that he didn't seem to like to make eye contact with anyone. "I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be; abandoning me was probably the best thing that they could have done." He looked over at her, surprised. "I'm happy. My father is the best that I could have ever asked for and even my perverted uncle is always looking out for me. I don't think that my life could have been any better if my parents were in it."

"You don't feel any anger towards them at all?"

Road shook her head. "Not really. Sure, it was kind of a jerk move to leave me, but it was probably for the best, in the end. I've made my peace with it."

Allen smiled at Road, and she smiled back. "You're pretty amazing. Did you know that, Road?" She giggled a little. "No really. I know that I haven't known you that long, but I want to get to know you better. I-"

_Ding-ding-ding._

An electric bell that was tuned to no particular note sounded loudly and the halls filled with chattering people. Allen let go of Road's hand and moved closer to her, directing her as to where to go. "Looks like it's lunch time." Road nodded. "You want to eat with me?" Road nodded again. "Good, because I wasn't sure that I was going to take 'no' for an answer."

Road smiled; this was shaping up to be a wonderful day.

That was what she thought before lunch started, at least.

...

_End of Chapter Five_


	6. Food Fight

**Chapter Title:** Food Fight

**Chapter Description:** It's lunchtime and, despite the growing relationship between Allen and Road, things get a little worse. When the screaming begins, Road escapes and finds friends among those she wouldn't expect to.

**A/N: **I AM SO SORRY. Personal stuff and my hatred for the last few chapters of the manga got in the way of me writing just about anything for _DGM_ and I'm really sorry. Please don't hate me! I'm a horrible person. :/ Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and to the people who told me to update quicker. Because I need to. It's really awesome because this is my _most popular fanfic ever_. I have something like 76 things up on this site but this one gets the most attention. Thank you very much for all of your support! Yet again, I apologize and hope that you enjoy this chapter. I was dreading writing it, although writing Alma in this chapter was the most fun thing I've done in weeks.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own DGM, because if I did, I'd have made Bak Chan as badass as he was in 196 in every chapter.

…

"What in hell do you think you're doing?" It took approximately seventeen seconds after Allen left to go buy his lunch for Lenalee to zoom in on Road and make her life hell. "You were holding hands with him in the hallway, from what I hear. Tell me that it was a lie and maybe, _maybe_, I won't chop your head off!" Her little lackeys circle around their ringleader and Road wonders whether or not she will survive the meal.

It was a shame, too, her dad had packed her the leftover Chinese food from last night for lunch and she had been really looking forward to eating it.

"I don't think you could cut off my head; you might break a nail," Road says, putting her bag on the table and pulling out her lunchbox, a tin of an old band that her dad used to like back in the day. He had bought it for her a few weeks ago, excited that he could do something so fatherly for her. "Besides, you-"

"Hello~, ladies~!" Plopping down in the seat next to Road that Allen had been sitting in previously was Lavi, a brown paper bag in his hands. "Don't tell me that y'all came over here just to see me?" He leans back, placing his hand on his forehead like an overdramatic southern belle. "Y'all are just too kind, but I must say my heart belongs to someone else. Now-"

"Now," Lenalee says, her anger now directed towards the redhead. "Is the time for you to mind your own business, Lavi," He quits laughing and sits up in his chair. "We're just welcoming the new girl; you wouldn't want to get involved in our little silly ceremonies, now would you?" She says, smiling and bubbly, now. Lavi's tenseness eases up just a little, but there's still something heavy in the air.

He leans over towards Lenalee. "Hey, babe, I think maybe you want to hold off on your little initiation ceremony for today. Allen would probably be pretty angry if you-"

"Oh, I've already talked it over with Allen," She says, smiling now. Road takes this opportunity to open up her box. Inside there are three Tupperware containers, one filled with fried rice, one with two plump eggrolls and another with beef and broccoli. Also in there was a pair of plastic chopsticks-because they were better for the environment-with a paper note wrapped around them. "And he says that it's absolutely fine if I have a little fun with my new friend, Road!" She unwraps the paper from around the chopsticks; she's ready to toss it aside, except she sees pen. "So we're just going to take her over to our table and get to know each other," It's a note from her dad, with Tyki's spidery handwriting on it as well. "So we'll be seeing you later, Lavi! Come on, Road. Let's go before they run out of the good salad dressing,"

'_My dearest Road- Good luck on your first day of school._ _I__ We (your father is a moro-) love you very much, Road. Do your best! Make us proud! Love, dad and Tyki_'

One of Lenalee's henchmen was looking over Road's shoulder, not to her knowledge of course. "What's this~?" She asks, grabbing the piece of paper out of Road's hands. She stands up, but the girl is already a few steps away, reading the note aloud. "My dearest Road," She says in an overdramatic fashion. Lavi is standing now and Road is running towards her. "Good luck on your first day of school!" She continues as Road tries to grab the note from her hands, but she is too short. "I, no we (your father is a moron)," She says, laughing as she keeps the note out of Road's grasp. Each syllable that the girl speaks is a dagger in Road's chest. She just wants it to be over. "Love you very much, Road… Awww!" She says, giggling hysterically now along with the rest of her friends. "Do your-"

"Chomesuke, stop this," Lavi says, looking more than deadly. She stops, her face falling and Lavi grabs the note from her. Without looking in her eyes, he passes it back to Road, and then turns over to Lenalee. "What is this, Lenalee?" She takes a step back; even she is scared. "What are you trying to accomplish here?"

Lenalee takes a deep breath. "Allen is my boyfriend and I don't want him to disappear," She looks down and for a moment Road thinks that she may be human. "If this bitch," She points to Road, now looking slightly less human. "Is trying to take him from me then I'll stop her; it's that easy!"

Allen walks over to the table with his tray of food, sets it down and doesn't seem to notice what's going on for a moment. As soon as he does he stands up, ready to yell at all of them, but Lavi beats him to it.

"You don't get it, Lenalee," He says; quiet now, though a wave of intense urgency is in his voice. All at once Road knew what was going on and why Lavi seemed so upset about all of this. "You and Allen are broken-up. We all know that except for, apparently, you. Instead of doing what you can to try to get back a lost cause, maybe you should…" His voice trails off and he looks over at some freshmen that were staring at him.

Lenalee snorts, apparently unaffected by Lavi's words. "I don't get what you're talking about," She looks over at Allen.

He stares at her staring at Allen and takes a step back. He looks at Road and tries to smile. "Sorry; it seems that there's not much I can do to help you," Road thinks that maybe there's nothing that he can do to help himself, but she just smiles at him, hoping that he'll feel better.

On the other front, Allen is yelling at Lenalee, telling her that's she's been unfair and that she should apologize to both Road and Lavi. Lenalee laughs in his face, telling him that he's an idiot and that he is just trying to make her jealous.

While the two of them yell, Road and Lavi stare, both knowing that they would never have what the two of them have. Despite the fact that they looked like they hated each other, at that moment there was something very intimate between them. With a smile Road remembered that she had only known this guy for less than a day; it was stupid and childish to have her heart beat faster when he said her name or to think that he would ever pay attention to a girl like her. This wasn't some stupid movie or the sort of book that lonely teenage girls read to make them feel better about their lack of a love life; it was the real world.

"I'm going," She told Lavi. He nodded and sat down at the table. "I'm… sorry." She said nodding over at Lenalee and Allen, still to absorbed in their argument to think of anything else going on at the moment.

Lavi smiles and shrugs. "Worse things have happened," He tells her. "Good luck with the rest of your day; sorry that this was such a bust," Road laughs and collects her things from the table, escaping from the negative feelings over there.

She looks around, seeing a couple familiar faces but none of them friendly enough to risk asking to sit by. She turned around, ready to pack it in and just go find somewhere quiet to sit until her next class, but there was someone behind her who she knocked into. "Sorry," She said, rubbing her head.

"There's no need to apologize, moron," Fou said, laughing. "I was the one hovering behind you like a creeper," She shrugs and sticks her hands in the pockets of her jeans. "Do you wanna come sit by me and my friends?" She asks, looking away, blushing a little. "It's probably not as _exciting_ as being with Walker and his friends over there, but we have a good time," She asks Road, smiling.

Road could have gotten down on her knees and praised Fou like a god. "I would love to come sit by you!" Road says, sighing with relief. Fou says nothing, nods and leads her to a table where a few guys were sitting.

"Look what the cat dragged in," says a boy who looked vaguely familiar and as haughty as hell.

Fou snorts. "You're just pissed that it's a girl who I'm bringing over and not a guy that you can rape, YU," the boy scowls and a shorter boy sitting next to him puts a hand on his shoulder.

Road noticed that besides Fou, the table was filled with boys.

"Don't mind him," Says the smiling shorter boy. "Yu is just a grumpy gus most of the time. You'll get used to it," He continues to grin and Yu looks away. "My name is Alma, and I know that it's pretty silly. It's an old family tradition. Here we have Howard, Chaoji, Daisya and Tryde," He pointed to each person as he introduced them; a stuck-up looking Caucasian boy, a chubby, good humored looking Asian kid, a punk with an affinity for purple eyeliner and a quiet looking guy with black hair and a leather jacket. "And of course, this is my man candy, Yu."

Yu looks at Road and narrows her eyes. "My name is Kanda, _not_ Yu," He says and she can understand why. Kanda seemed like a bad name, but she probably would have killed herself if she had been named Yu; so many jokes could be made about that name that he had probably heard a million different ones. It was no wonder that he was grumpy.

"Take a seat," Fou tells her and Road does as she's told. "Everyone, this is Road Kamelot; she's new today, so don't embarrass me," She says, staring at Kanda.

Alma smiles. "It looks like we have another person to add to the weird names club!" He grabs Kanda's hand and, to Road's surprise, the guy doesn't flinch away or anything.

"Everyone but Howard has a freaky as shit name," Daisya says as he munches on some sort of sandwich. "So it's sorta like we're a club or whatever the hell Alma wants it to be," He smiles at Road and she is almost positive that he must have some sort of garage band that he sings for.

"Anyways, Road, how was your day?" Fou asks. "I saw that her majesty doesn't seem to like you very much, already."

"It's because she was getting cozy with Walker," Alma says, grinning. "We all saw that. You're the envy of every girl in school right now," He laces his fingers with Kanda's. "Including me." He says with a wink. Kanda rolls his eyes.

They all eat lunch together and there's no drama; Road learns that Alma and Kanda got together after a long 'will they or won't they' relationship a week ago, Chaoji was going to bring the school's wrestling team to nationals this year if the coach had his way, Daisya did, in fact, have a garage band and they were playing at a coffeehouse that Saturday and she should 'check them out', and that Tryde was ahead two years of his age in school; he was a certified genius.

It was almost as much fun as walking with Allen earlier that day, but a dark cloud still hung over Road's head. She was sad; she had been excited about sitting with Allen and Lavi and hated Lenalee for ruining it. She was enjoying herself, but there was something about that rejection that stuck with her and stung whenever she thought about it.

That was why it was a surprise when there was a shadow from behind her, and Alma's eyes twinkled as they rose up to meet with whoever was standing behind her. "Hello handsome," the ambiguous guy said.

Road turned around as Allen waved at Alma with a forced smile. "Hello, Alma. All of you," He looked down and crouched to be at eye level with Road. "Can we go talk?" He asked her and her eyes widened.

"Um…" She looked over at Fou who was doing anything to avoid looking at her and Allen; she was no help. Road gulped. "Sure." She said and Allen smiled.

He held out a hand that Road took; she had already packed her things away. She grabbed her backpack and tried to pull away from Allen's hand, but he held on tight. As the two of them walked out of the cafeteria together she could hear Alma in the background whooping and whistling at them.

…

_End of Chapter Six_


	7. Crowded Stairwells

**Chapter Title:** Crowded Stairwells

**Chapter Description:** Road and Allen talk, a stairwell is too crowded and the devil appears.

**A/N:** I WANT TO BE ON TVTROPES. Sorry, that was something that needed to be said. More than anything I want to have a fan fic that I've written be recommended on there… So badly… (I'm insane, aren't I? I guess I am.) Anyways, I wrote this when I should have been doing APUSH, so yay. Also, this chapter is a bit shorter but… But I don't think you'll be disappointed.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own DGM, because if I did, the series would make sense now like it did in the beginning…

…

The two of them didn't talk; Allen just pulled on Road's arm and she let herself be lead to wherever he was taking her. They went out the door of the cafeteria, through a hallway and went into an abandoned stairwell. It was there that he stopped and turned to face Road, his hand not letting go of hers.

She clears her throat and looks anywhere but at Allen. "Your bruise looks worse; you should probably go to the nurse about-"

"I'm sorry Road. About Lenalee, about lunch, and…" He shakes his head. "I don't even know what I'm apologizing for, but I'm sorry." Was Road supposed to say something? She didn't know. Sure, she had been sad about not being able to have lunch together, but she could understand. Allen had a history. Before Road was ever a proper noun to him, Allen had been living his life. Of course he had his own problems; it was nothing that he needed to apologize for. "I want to be your friend. From the moment I laid eyes on you I knew that I wanted to be your friend. And I'll make all of this up to you, I swear. I don't want you to get caught up in my drama, I…" He trails off, his eyes burning as he stared into hers.

The two of them just stare at each other for a moment. "I don't understand what you're getting at, Allen," Road tells him, gently taking her hand out of his grasp and looking down at the ground. "Of course you had a life before the two of us met, so did I. The only difference is that I moved away from mine and you still have to live yours. There's nothing for you to apologize for; I'm the one who's intruding-"

"You're not intruding at all!" His voice begins to rise with desperation and he reaches out to grab her hand, which she brings behind her back. She looks around, trying to see if there are any teachers about who would yell at the two of them for this strange little rendezvous. Luckily, there weren't. Understanding how loud he was, Allen lowers his voice to an intense whisper. "Didn't I just say that I want to be your friend, Road? You don't need to feel bad or anything! Ever! Don't think about Lenalee or Lavi or any of those guys. They don't matter. All I want is… Are you alright?" She had not lifted her eyes from the ground the entire time he has been talking; she is more than a little confused. He puts a hand on her cheek and she meets eyes with him. He smiles, carefree. "Don't frown, okay, Road?"

"I don't get it," she tells him. "Maybe I just read your character wrong, or something." She shakes her head and Allen frowns, bringing his hand back down to his side, suddenly self-conscious and sad.

"Wha-what do you mean by that?" He asks her.

"You just said that your friends don't matter." Her voice shakes a little as she talks and she stares down at the ground again. "That doesn't sound like you, or, at least what I thought you were like. Then again," she looks up at him, catching his eyes on her own for the first time. "I've only known you for a few hours. What am I doing getting so worked up over someone who I've just met? All of this is-"

"Maybe we were destined to meet, Road. Did you think of that? Fate works in strange ways. I mean, yeah, we barely know each other, but I don't think that necessarily means anything." Instead of being upset at her words or irritated at her moods, he was smiling as sweetly as ever. In fact, his eyes seemed to sparkle as he spoke. "I mean, we get along well, don't we? I thought that we did, at least. And, to be honest, I'm not usually this open with someone who I've just met. I just thought that you were special," he giggles nervously and touches his head self-consciously. His smile fades just a little and becomes fake. "Now I seem silly, don't I? Well, I'm sorry to have bothered you if you don't think that… I…" He trails off and the fake smile gets bigger. "I'll leave you alone, then."

He turns to leave, but even before she can process what she's doing, Road reaches out to him and grabs his sleeve. "No, don't go." Her eyes are planted on her feet; she can't dare to look him in the eye. Nervousness and shame fill her; she didn't want him to leave. The words she said were foolish and untrue; she was just scared. "I didn't mean it like… I…"

She can't say anything coherent and she feels something welling up within her, but she can't place her finger on it. Still, she didn't want him to leave. There was something about being with him that made her happy. Sure, it was nice meeting other people at lunch, but the person who she really wanted to be with was him. The person that she wanted to get to know at this new school was him.

"Road, I like you," he tells her and she looks up, her eyes full of some strange emotion that she had never really felt before. "Road, I like you a lot." His hand reaches up to her cheek once again and she feels a blush forming there. Slowly he brings his head closer to hers until their lips are touching. Her eyes remain wide for a moment with shock, but as his hand moves from her cheek to the back of her neck she shuts her eyes, just enjoying the moment.

Road has never kissed a boy before, so she's not really sure what to do. Allen, however, seems to be enjoying it, and to be well-experienced at it. Though it irritates Road that he's probably kissed other girls before, she knows that Lenalee probably isn't the kind of girl who would wait for a romantic time to kiss. They probably did it all the time. She tries to dispel these thoughts and laughs inwardly at the fact that Lenalee was just Allen's training before he was hers. But Road isn't sure where to put her hands or what to do with her lips or anything at all. Still… she happens to be enjoying it as well. This was what she wanted, wasn't it? From the first time she and Allen had talked there had been that feeling in her stomach whenever she saw him and her heart fluttered in her chest. This couldn't be anymore perfect and for the first time since moving, she was truly happy.

Except, on cue, the bell rings and people file out of their classes and into the stairwell where curious eyes roam over the most popular boy in school, Allen Walker, playing tonsil hockey with the new girl and not all of those eyes are incredibly pleased. Cell phones are whipped out and text messages are sent and suddenly the whole school knows the name of the new girl who dared to take their Prince Charming.

…

_She tosses and turns for a moment as the result of some sort of an event in her dream before settling down with a smile on her sleeping face._

…

Road gets to art class, not sure if she's walking on air of if she's never been more frightened in her entire life. Things were going too fast; she knew that wholeheartedly. But she couldn't help but to be ecstatic. When she was with Allen, she was happy and she liked the feeling of butterflies in her stomach when she walked into a room that he was in. Still, there was the nervousness that came with a new relationship. What did she really know about him? Not very much. But the happiness outweighed the fear and she couldn't keep the smile off of her face.

"Yo, Road, come sit over here!" She's woken from her daze by one of the guys who she sat with at lunch, Daisya, waving her over to the two-person tables that they had in the art room. "There's an open seat next to me!" He tells her, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Across the room her classmates' eyes were all on her. Slightly irritated that everyone was staring at her and then turning to their friends and whispering about her, she walks over to Daisya and takes a seat next to him.

"You really know how to make a stir, Road," he says, chuckling. "In a matter of hours you've become the most talked about person in school. Quite an accomplishment, I think. If you ever become famous then the tabloids will be all over you!" Road stares at Daisya, confused and more than a little pissed off. When he looks at the expression on her face he begins to laugh harder. "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?" He doesn't sound that sincere, but she needs to know what's going on, so she talks to him.

Road's narrows her eyes at him. "No I don't, actually. Care to enlighten me?"

"You sure aren't boring, Road," he tells her with a wink. "But you should know that when you want to make-out with someone, it's better you don't do it in the most crowded stairwell of the school." Road's face falls. "You were too busy being happy to notice all of the people in there, I guess, so you and Walker put on a little bit of a show for the rest of the school," he tells her, laughing out loud and out of control, now. Road resists the growing urge to slap him. "But you better be careful, because there's a certain someone in this class who probably wouldn't be too happy with your escapades right now."

Only one person comes to Road's mind. "You couldn't mean-"

"Oh yes I could."

"Lenalee," they both say at the same time, Daisya grinning, Road grimacing.

"Speak of the devil and the devil shall appear," says a voice in front of the two of them. They look up and are face to face with Lenalee Lee, looking none to pleased with the events that had been going on that afternoon.

Road then resisted the growing urge to run like hell.

…

_End of Chapter Seven_


	8. Waking Up

**Chapter Title:** Waking-Up

**Chapter Description:** The loose ends are tied up and the school day is over. But when the truth is revealed, is dreaming worth it?

**A/N:** Hi there. I'm not dead, surprisingly. I'll just say that junior year is awful. _Awful_. If you're going to be a junior in high school any time soon, I suggest that you flunk out now and become a hobo. It's a much better idea. And you'll have much more time to write. Anyhow, enjoy this much belated final chapter of _Dreamer_. I hope you enjoyed the ride.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own DGM or any of its characters. Etc. Etc. Etc.

…

Road was never a goody-goody. She was never the nicest girl in class or voted 'Miss Congeniality'. She did, however, have a moral compass and a good sense of judgment when it came to dealing with other people. Perhaps it was not the best idea in the world to make-out with a guy who she just met. It was probably even less of a good idea to make-out with a guy who she just met whom had recently broken up with his mentally unstable mean girl girlfriend.

But Lenalee stood there with a forced smile on her face, hands on her hips. "Road, dear?" she asked, all pleasure, seemingly no business. "I was wondering if you would mind leaving your friend here and sitting with me. You see, I think you and I started off on the wrong foot. And I'd love to get to know you better. You see, you and I—"

"Lenalee," said a voice from behind them. "Stop this."

Lenalee turned around, and sighed. "I thought you might have been Allen," she said. "There to apologize."

Lavi shook his head. "I'm not Allen, Lenalee."

Road wasn't entirely sure what was happening. She looked to Daisya for help, but he seemed just as helplessly lost as she was. All she could do was watch.

"What are you even doing here, Lavi. This isn't your class. I know that your Mr. Tiedoll's pet and whatever but you can't just—"

"Can't just what, Lenalee? Stop you from bullying this girl?"

Lenalee looked down at the ugly, beige colored tiles. "She took the thing that I care about most, Lavi. Don't you think that she deserves this?" She brought a hand up to her cheek, wiping away a stray tear that had fallen. "I don't deserve this."

Road frowned. Had she thought hard about Lenalee? Yes, Allen had told her a little about her, but what did Road really know? That this girl was mean. That was the only thing. But maybe she had caught her on an off day. Maybe something had happened. Was Allen really the best person to have asked about it? Was Lavi? She had never paid much attention.

"No one does, Lenalee." When Lavi looked at her, there was something so tender in his eyes. It wasn't sympathy or pity for the girl who had been so hurt—it was love. It was just love, raw and tender, at its simplest form. Could a look like that even come from a former drug-addled boy? It was Allen who changed him, apparently, but this kind of emotion wasn't made—it was born. Lavi put a hand on Lenalee's arm. "But it's happened to you. And is it really Road's fault? And will throwing paint on her shirt or pulling her chair away when she's trying to sit down really solve anything?" He shook his head. "It won't make you feel better when you wake-up tomorrow."

Tears were streaming down her face now. She really did have a pretty face, Road thought. How had she become so twisted? "What do you know?" she spat at Lavi. The other kids in the class all averted their eyes. They whistled or stared at the posters on the walls they had seen a million times. Not a single one stepped forward to help Lavi; not even Lenalee's friends cared about the crying queen bee.

Lavi smiled, halfheartedly. "I don't," he said. "I really don't. I can't imagine having my heart broken like yours." He took a step closer towards her. She sneered, but didn't move away. "But Allen isn't the only guy out there, Lenalee. There are millions more! And even more are born every day! Yeah, he's great and all, but he also treated you like crap." Road almost wanted to laugh. "And if he wants to move on, you have to let him. And you have to move on, too."

She laughed in his face. "You're just saying that because you want to go out with me. You always have. I know you have. Since we first met you've liked me. You're such a hypocrite!" Her words stung, but her voice trembled as she said them. "You've always been jealous of Allen and me. I bet that you're just happy on the inside to see me like this. To see my relationship with Allen die. I bet you…" Her voice fizzled out, replaced by her mouth clenched shut, her chest heaving with sobs she was trying to keep in.

But the weirdest thing, Road thought, was that Lavi just stood there with that half-smile on his face, letting her attack him. When she was done, he didn't even say anything, just take her into his arms and hold her. And when she finally relaxed in his arms, he didn't look nervous about the classmates now watching them or worried about how she was feeling. He just closed his eyes and remained calm for her.

"It may not be me," he told her. "It may never be me," he said. "But I'll always care about you enough to do this for you, if you let me."

The two of them left the classroom together, with the permission of Mr. Tiedoll—who really did, apparently, favor Lavi over the rest of his students—for most of the period. Road, who didn't particularly enjoy art, spent most of the time laughing with Daisya. Because Daisya seemed to also be a particular favorite of Tiedoll's, they got away with it, but they did get quite a few angry stares from their classmates.

About ten minutes before the period was supposed to end, Lenalee returned, red-faced and angry. Without saying a word to anyone, she sat down in the back of the room. Road could feel her negative aura radiating for the next ten minutes.

Two minutes before the bell, Tiedoll let them all pack up their belongings to leave. As Road was putting her pencils back in their case, she saw Lenalee standing in front of her, much as she had done at the beginning of class. She looked up, expecting war.

But what she got was rather surprising. "Sorry," Lenalee said with little fanfare.

"I'm—"

Lenalee put a hand in front of Road, telling her to stop. "Don't say anything," she said. "Sorry. That's it. Sorry." Before the bell even rang, Lenalee walked out of the room. Tiedoll, at the front of class, just shook his head.

When Road left class, Lavi was waiting by the door. "Lenalee already left," she said, walking past him towards where she thought the locker rooms to be.

"I wasn't looking for Lenalee," he said. "I was looking for you."

Road lifted an eyebrow. "Why?"

Lavi sighed. "She's a bit much to handle. Allen couldn't put up with her for that long." He paused. "Did she apologize?" Road nodded. "Good."

"Are you two together now?" she couldn't help but to ask.

Lavi shook his head. "Of course not. She's still not over Allen. She thinks that she never will be." Someone waved to the redhead, who paused to wave back. "And even if she were to get over him any time soon, I don't think I'd be the first person that she'd go to." He sighed. "But she'll be better. And maybe, someday…" He shook his head. "Nah. But I'll keep trying."

The two of them reached the gym in silence. "Have fun," Lavi said, giving Road a pat on the back. "See you tomorrow." He walked away, smiling and waving.

…

Road was allowed to sit out of gym for the day—she didn't have a uniform, so the teacher took pity on her—meaning that the only class she had left was orchestra. Orchestra, which she recalled, was with Allen.

Had it only been that morning that she had met him? That she had been introduced to him as the 'pretty popular boy'? It seemed like so much longer than that. It felt like it had been ages. She had known him for mere hours and yet; it felt like she had never felt the same about anyone in her entire life. As she walked to orchestra, her heart beat faster in her chest. She hadn't seen him since—_"Road? Road?"_—she had left him in the stairwell.

When she walked in the teacher, Mr. Marie, welcomed her, telling her that she would have to wait a few days until she could audition and start playing. "There's a concert in two days," he told her. "We're in dress rehearsals and there's not enough time for you to learn the music," he had said apologetically.

She understood, of course. Music wasn't easily learned, especially when people had been preparing for a concert since mid-summer—because apparently, this orchestra was full of over-achievers—but it didn't stop her disappointment that she wouldn't be playing. She had been looking forward to it.

Instead of having class in the usual orchestra room, dress rehearsal would be held in the school's theater, where the concert would take place. Mr. Marie had told her to go watch; it would be like a study hall with good music for the next to days. It was better than nothing, at least, so after she got her locker assignment from a student conductor—Mr. Marie had already left to start rehearsal—she rushed to the theater.

The orchestra had just finished playing their scales, warming up and tuning. They were now settling in for their first number.

"It's Neah's 14 Opus: Lullaby," the assistant conductor Mr. Dark told her. "There's a very talented pianist who can actually play the piano solo. He's the only reason that we could—_Road, get up_—play this piece. Mr. Marie has wanted to do this—_It isn't funny_—since he had started. He just hasn't had a student good enough until now."

She knew who the pianist was. There was no question in her mind as to who else it could be. And so it was. To light applause from his classmates, Allen walked up to a piano sitting on stage left. After flexing his fingers and playing a quick scale to test it, he nodded at the conductor. Mr. Marie readied his baton and the piece began.

It started with a soft piano solo, the beginning of the lullaby, with only the string bass accompanying it. After a few phrases, a flute joined them. When the melody came back, it came in full force. The whole orchestra behind him, Allen pounded on the keys, eyes shut, the music memorized. It was like he was in a different world, like the music was all that mattered to him.

And suddenly, Road felt very alone.

It was true; she had only known him for one day. What did she really know about this boy with his charming smile and beautiful music? She knew the same that she knew about Lenalee. And that was nothing.

_"Let me try," another voice said. "Road? Are you awake?"_

She wanted to cry, but tears didn't come. The music swelled, and so did her insecurities. What did she think, coming here? Expecting to make a new life, a better life. A life with someone like Allen? She was just a Noah. She was just a—

A Noah?

_"Road, we have to get going. We can't wait around for you all day."_

She thought about his lips on hers. That would never happen again. She would make sure it didn't. They were from two different worlds, she and Allen. Even if the music he played was beautiful, she would never fit in. Never be a part of it; never be a part of his world.

The song was dying down; it was back to the piano, flute and bass for the final phrases. _Road's eyelids flickered open._ But suddenly, the music stopped. Allen stood up at the piano, his hand outstretched. "Don't!" he yelled. "Don't Road; there's still time! There's still—"

…

"Good morning star shine, the earth says hello!" The light in her room was bright and hurt her eyes. It was too early in the morning for such an obnoxious burst of sunlight. Just a moment ago she had been sleeping, and now her personal hell was coming in the form of bright light and chipper voices. Cyr- her father's wake-up calls were always difficult to stomach, though today seemed to be especially bad, probably due to the fact that Road was somewhat dreading waking up and facing the important day that awaited her.

"Shut up." The words were cruel sounding coming from her tired mouth, but she knew that her new father wouldn't mind. Cyril adored her; that much was certain. It would wound him for just a moment, but no serious harm would be done. Like rubber, nothing seemed to stick to Cyril for long.

Pouting for a moment, Cyril sat down at the edge of Road's old bed. "Now Road, I know that you're a growing young woman and that you have lots of untapped emotions that you feel the need to take out on me, your father, because you have nowhere else to direct them, but you need to learn to hold your temper." For a moment he paused, staring out into the dark blackness that made up her world. "Today's an important day. We're going to go kill the exorcists."

Road blinked her eyes. For a moment—granted, just for a moment—she felt as if she were having déjà vu, or something. Like she had seen this all before in a dream. But she shook her head; this was a morning just like any other.

In fact, she didn't think she could remember dreaming the night before at all.

She looked over to Tyki, who had apparently helped her father in their project to wake her up. He was—as per the usual—smoking a cigarette. "You were talking in your sleep," he said. "Something about Allen Walker." She blushed. "You really hate him that much?"

She grinned. "If you think I like him," she said. "You must have been dreaming."

…

_**Fin**_


End file.
